West Coast Eagles off to a flying start
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Adam Simpson gets his career as West Coast head coach with a resounding win over the Western Bulldogs

Fox Sports

25 Mar 2014

Sport/AFL/Previews & Reviews

A GENUINE West Coast Eagles resurgence as a finals candidate will trigger raging new local debate on just which is the better AFL team in the west.

And only a Western Derby against Fremantle can settle the argument.

For the past two years as West Coast tumbled from title candidate to an injury-ravaged failed flag favourite last season completely out of the finals equation, the Dockers emerged as a competition powerhouse and clearly the better of the two WA outfits.

Giant strides: Nic Naitanui stamped his class on the game with the first touch — a gilt-edged tap which resulted in the Eagles first goal inside a minute. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

It looked set to continue into 2014 as West Coast rebuilt their playing style and critical health of key playing components Nic Naitanui, Shannon Hurn, Luke Shuey, Sharrod Wellingham and brilliant goal-shark Mark LeCras, who all missed large slices of last season with injuries.

Mark LeCras showed how much the Eagles missed his class last year with a five-goal haul. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

So, a reinvigorated West Coast and Fremantle are on course for what is now looming as a typically classic derby confrontation in the first weekend of May in Round 7.

Sure it’s only Round 1 and West Coast brushed aside a developing Western Bulldogs, who are deficient on critical finishing forwards to cash-in on the promising work that their midfield is capable of generating and against even some of the better AFL units.

But that 10-goal demolition of the Dogs in Perth on Sunday was confirmation that there is another serious finals contender and quite possibly even as high as the crucial double-chance top four finish.

The Dockers have won the last three derbies by 28 points each time last year and a whopping 11 goals in Round 19 back in August of 2012 as the last time both outfits were finals bound.

On exciting evidence of an Eagles rebirth and Fremantle’s sheer quality and undoubted premiership potential, the 39th western derby could be one of the greatest in the bitter history between the two AFL rivals.

It will ultimately have a significant bearing on the overall outcome to final spots inside the top eight ahead of the title play-offs in September.

Shannon Hurn, injured for much of the second half of last year, was back to his powerful, bustling best. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

And there is a seriously strong prospect that West Coast and the Dockers can retain their belligerent early form and sit around the top of the league ladder when they hit head-on in six weeks.

The Eagles head to the MCG on Sunday to take on a struggling Melbourne and then have St Kilda back in Perth before Geelong on the road, Port Adelaide at home and Carlton ahead of the Dockers.

On current indicators there’s as many three and even four more wins for the Eagles to continue their resurgence and take confidence and imposing form into a confrontation with the disciplined Dockers.

Freo clearly have a tougher run of engagements well ahead of a mouthwater derby shootout starting with the exciting Gold Coast on Saturday, then Hawthorn in Melbourne on Friday-week, an enraged Essendon back at home, Sydney at the SCG and an enigmatic North Melbourne before the Eagles.

The Dockers destroyed Collingwood by 70 points to officially launch the AFL premiership home-and-away season at the start of a horridly stretched out opening round and West Coast closed out the 16-day footy bonanza with a 65-point trouncing of the Dogs.

Fremantle sit atop the league ladder on percentage ahead of the revitalised West Coast in second.

That’s a first.

The Dockers have been undisputed premiership candidates for this season on the back of their historic first ever grand final engagement last year and gut-wrenching 15-point loss to power club Hawthorn.

Their confirmation of faith to remain a flag contender was not unexpected with the depth of midfield class and potential dominance, a watertight defensive machine all over the ground and an improved finishing potency up forward.

Dockers coach Ross Lyon has made loud and clear his intentions to generate at least a couple more goals a game to lift his side’s average tally each game to around 100 points after managing 91 an outing last season, despite being the tightest defensive unit and conceding only 70 points against.

But any potential West Coast revival under new and rookie coach Adam Simpson left most AFL analysts cautious and awaiting more quantified assessment of potential in what is widely accepted as the tightest and most unpredictable AFL competition since 1990.

Some expert observers that tipped a West Coast premiership last year before they plummeted to 13th with just nine wins and only three in Perth, were scathing in judgment of any Eagles possible comeback with predictions this year that they would not make the finals.

West Coast’s remake has been in the making through the entire summer and in many ways behind the scenes as Simpson remodelled an aggressive running system and imposing ball-use and finishing that can establish a particularly intimidating brand and winning potential at home.

An unveiling of what was to come and that is now unfolding more clearly is virtually a full and healthy list of the Eagles best 22 players available as well as a regenerated playing style that insists on flexibility through all players and a slick playing style to run the ball quickly into a potent forward division.

West Coast is clearly an extremely fit unit with power running and an exciting attacking brand of footy that could score heavily when in their full working order.

That was also on full show through the NAB Challenge series which all too often was dismissed by analysts as “only scratch matches” as the Eagles hammered the Dockers twice, by 84 points and three goals as well as a trip to Blacktown for a win over highly rated Sydney by six goals.

The “Simpson brand” of play calls for a form of Hawks style of confident and accurate foot disposal with intent to retain possession but make lengthy ground at each transition and transferring the footy into scoring range quickly.

It seems opens scoring chances for midfielders on the surge forward as another critical option in transition when surging the ball forward.

More than half of the Eagles 21 goals (21.8) were rammed home by midfielders, while power forwards Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy shared six between them.

Kennedy was quiet in his one-on-one duel with disciplined Dogs veteran back man Dale Morris, but his lean outing reinforces the variety of scoring supply West Coast appear to have established.

The Dockers are widely regarded as the most intimidating and at times impenetrable defensive mechanisms all over the ground.

A new West Coast dawning has unearthed a healthy playing list and style to take on and genuinely confront that Dockers supremacy.

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